Question 1

What is an orthodox file manager?

Accepted Answer

An orthodox file manager (OFM) shows two directories side-by-side and is built for keyboard control. The pattern goes back to Norton Commander in 1986 and was refined by Midnight Commander, Total Commander, and Far Manager. Once you internalize source-pane / destination-pane, every file operation becomes muscle memory. Captain's Deck is the modern macOS-native take on this design.

Question 2

How does Captain's Deck differ from Finder?

Accepted Answer

Finder is built around the mouse and metaphors like AirDrop and tags. Captain's Deck is built around the keyboard, two visible panes, and an embedded shell. Same files, different philosophy. Use both — Captain's Deck doesn't replace Finder, it sits next to it.

Question 3

Will I have to memorize shortcuts?

Accepted Answer

No. The basics — Tab, F5, F6, arrows, Enter, Backspace — get you 90% of the way there. The Help menu has a full keyboard shortcuts reference. Vim-style hjkl is optional. Most people are productive within an hour and genuinely fast within a week.

Question 4

Does Captain's Deck run on Apple Silicon?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Captain's Deck is a universal binary — the same .dmg installs natively on M1, M2, M3, M4, and Intel Macs. Apple Silicon is the primary development target.

Question 5

Will my Finder tags carry over?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Captain's Deck reads and writes Finder tags via the standard macOS metadata APIs. Tag a file in Finder, see it tagged in Captain's Deck, and vice versa.

Question 6

Is Captain's Deck a subscription?

Accepted Answer

No, and we have no plans to change that. Captain's Deck is a one-time €19.99 purchase. You own that version forever. Future major upgrades may be paid, but the old version always keeps working.

Question 7

Can I use my Captain's Deck license on multiple Macs?

Accepted Answer

Each Pro license (€19.99) covers 1 Mac. The Family / Team pack is 5 licenses for €69.99 — a 30% saving — perfect for a small team or if you use Captain's Deck on multiple machines yourself.

Question 8

Are there discounts for students or open-source maintainers?

Accepted Answer

Yes — 50% off for students, teachers, open-source maintainers, and registered non-profits. Email proof of status to support@multimodalsolutions.net and we'll send a code within 24 hours.

Question 9

What is Captain's Deck's refund policy?

Accepted Answer

30 days, no questions asked. If Captain's Deck doesn't click, email us within 30 days of purchase and we'll refund in full. We'd rather you have your €19.99 back than a tool you don't love.

Question 10

Do I get free updates with Captain's Deck?

Accepted Answer

Yes — lifetime free updates included with every license. Pay once, keep getting new features and fixes forever. No annual renewals, no upgrade tax.

Question 11

Is Captain's Deck sandboxed?

Accepted Answer

The Mac App Store version is fully sandboxed. The direct-download version is notarized by Apple but unsandboxed — that's what makes the built-in terminal, JavaScript plugins, Process Viewer, and admin mode possible. Admin / root mode uses Apple's SMJobBless to run a privileged helper only when you explicitly elevate, and only for the specific operation requested.

Question 12

Where are my Captain's Deck credentials stored?

Accepted Answer

In the macOS Keychain. SFTP passwords, SSH key passphrases, S3 access keys — all of them. We never round-trip your credentials through any server, and there is no 'sync' service for them.

Question 13

What languages does the diff viewer support?

Accepted Answer

Captain's Deck integrates with FileMerge (Tools → Compare Files with FileMerge) for full visual diff with syntax highlighting on every language FileMerge supports. The built-in Git Panel shows side-by-side diffs against HEAD for any modified file in a repo.

Question 14

Can I script Captain's Deck?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The plugin system runs JavaScript via the system JavaScriptCore framework. The captain.* API surfaces fs, ui, http, shell, clipboard, storage, events, commands, status bar, settings, and read-only VFS providers. Two sample plugins ship in sample-plugins/ as starting points.

Question 15

Does Captain's Deck work with Time Machine and backup tools?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Captain's Deck reads files through the standard macOS filesystem APIs, so anything Finder can see is browsable — including Time Machine snapshots and disk images mounted by other backup tools.

Question 16

Does Captain's Deck have synchronized browsing like WinSCP?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Press Cmd+Option+Y (or pick View → Sync Browsing) and the panes start mirroring each other's navigation. The implementation uses relative path deltas rather than absolute paths, so a local checkout at /Users/me/projects/myapp/src can sync against a remote deploy at /var/www/myapp/src — cd into controllers/ on either side and the other follows.

Question 17

How do I get help with Captain's Deck?

Accepted Answer

Email support@multimodalsolutions.net. Bug reports, feature requests, and licensing questions all land in the same inbox and we reply within a business day.

Question 18

Can I request a feature in Captain's Deck?

Accepted Answer

Please do. Open an issue on the public feedback repo at github.com/jupe69/captains-deck-feedback, or just email us. A meaningful share of every release is driven by user requests.

Question 19

Found a bug in Captain's Deck — what now?

Accepted Answer

Two options: file an issue on the public feedback repo at github.com/jupe69/captains-deck-feedback, or email support@multimodalsolutions.net. Including the macOS version, the app version (Captain's Deck → About), and a description of what you expected vs what happened lets us fix it faster.

Question 20

Is there a Captain's Deck community?

Accepted Answer

The public feedback repo at github.com/jupe69/captains-deck-feedback is where bug reports and feature requests land. Email us if you prefer private — we read everything.

Question 21

Can I search inside subfolders?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Quick Search (Cmd+F) has a 'Search subfolders' option, and Full Search (Shift+Cmd+F) also searches recursively — plus file contents and inside archives.

Question 22

How do I change the terminal colors?

Accepted Answer

Open Settings → Appearance → Terminal and pick a built-in scheme (Classic Green, Solarized Dark, Nord, Dracula, Tomorrow Night), a cursor style, and blink — or choose Import from Terminal… to pull colors from a macOS Terminal .terminal profile.

Question 23

Can I customize keyboard shortcuts?

Accepted Answer

Yes, fully. Settings → Keyboard Shortcuts lets you Record, Add, or Remove shortcuts — even multi-key chords like dd — and you can switch between the Orthodox, macOS, and Vim layout presets.

Question 24

Does deleting move to the Trash?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Delete moves items to the macOS Trash, where you can Put Back anything or Empty Trash (Shift+Cmd+Delete). Permanent deletes — on network shares or volumes without a Trash — always ask first.

Captain’s Deck FAQ — the dual-pane file manager for Mac The questions
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